In some of the worst news I've heard all day, a new study from the September issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal says that letting your dog sleep in bed with you could be bad for your health. I don't personally have a dog, because my apartment won't allow it, but grew up with dogs and I do have a cat who sleeps with me every single night. I am very upset about this.
The study, titled "The Effect of Dogs on Human Sleep in the Home Sleep Environment," studied 40 healthy adults with dogs over the course of five months. All participants were healthy adults who had no sleep disorders, and their dogs were all older than six months.
In the study, each participant wore an accelerometer and their pup also wore one for seven nights. The study hoped to conclude not only the effect a dog sleeping in a person's bed had on their sleep, but also if the dog being in the room at all effected their quality of sleep.
Shockingly, researchers found that “humans with a single dog in their bedroom maintained good sleep efficiency; however, the dog’s position on/off the bed made a difference.” Many of the participants actually slept better when their pupper was in the room with them, but slept worse when the dog was on the bed.
Break our hearts why don't you, science.